A History of the TTC's Community Bus Services (400 series routes)

A scan of a community bus transfer, issued in 1992.

By Godfrey Mallion, modified by James Bow
Originally printed in the October 2005 issue of Transfer Points, the official newsletter of the Toronto Transportation Society

See Also

The History of Accessible Transit on the TTC

An Experimental Local Bus Service

Community bus service began in Toronto on October 15, 1990, with the 170 LAWRENCE MANOR route. The LAWRENCE MANOR community bus still operates, serving the Bathurst and Lawrence area of the city, linking buildings where seniors with mobility challenges live to local medical and shopping malls. The LAWRENCE MANOR bus also connects the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care with the Lawrence Square Plaza (Toronto’s second plaza, 1953).

The community bus service initiative was set up to reduce the dependence of the mobility-challenged on Wheel Trans. In 1990 a one-way Wheel-Trans trip cost the TTC $33, and had to be pre-booked 4 days ahead of time. The Community bus could be taken on the day of need with no advanced booking. The patrons could pay regular TTC fares, and transfer with regular TTC routes (including subway stations, especially where elevators had been added), and the cost to the Commission to provide the service dropped to between $9 and $15 per trip.

The Proposal Expands

The LAWRENCE MANOR experiment proved to be successful and, on June 6, 1991 the TTC released a list of areas where a Community bus would be well-used by residents. The identified areas were: Lawrence/Manor, Parkdale, Roncesvalles/High Park, Spadina/University, Yonge/Sherbourne, Bathurst/Eglinton, Bathurst North, Gerrard-Warden, Dufferin/Lawrence, Cedarbrae, Finch/Yonge, Donway/Sunnybrook, South Don Mills (Thorncliffe), Spadina, South Leaside, Sherway/Brown’s Line, Rexdale, East Mall, West Mall, Sheppard/Don Mills, Agincourt, Steeles/Yonge, and East York.

Community bus service began on June 22, 1992 on 401 NORTH BATHURST (Sheppard to Steeles), 402 PARKDALE, 403 SOUTH DON MILLS (Don Mills Plaza to Thorncliffe Park), and 404 EAST YORK (Stan Wadlow Community Centre to Shopper’s World Danforth, via the East General Hospital, True Davidson Acres, and the Victoria Park subway station). Coincident with these services, the 170 LAWRENCE MANOR bus was renumbered 400 LAWRENCE MANOR, bringing that service in line with the 400 series numbering system that had come to be identified with this type of operation.

Contractions and Expansions

The 401 NORTH BATHURST service ended as a Community Bus route on September 1, 1995, replaced by a “pulse” service. The TTC also introduced a 425 DOWNTOWN bus on January 3, 1995, but this did not prove to be cost-effective, and service ended on June 16 of that year. More recently, the 405 ETOBICOKE bus began operation on September 12, 2005, serving community amenities around the Eglinton/Kipling area. This was followed by the 406 VARIETY VILLAGE community link and the 407 TORONTO REHAB CARDIAC CENTRE community link buses which began operation on January 3, 2011, serving the Variety Village and Sunnybrook Hospital areas respectively. The 406 VARIETY VILLAGE route stopped operating on May 8, 2011, when a new branch of the 12 KINGSTON ROAD route opened, serving Variety Village.

On March 11, 2015, service began on the temporary 409 ACCESSIBLE SHUTTLE DUNDAS WEST shuttle, with used Wheel Trans vehicles operating out of Dundas West station’s bus terminal via south on Dundas and east on Bloor to loop via north on Lansdowne, east on Wallace, south on Dufferin and west on Bloor. This service was installed ahead of a planned overhaul of Dundas West station’s elevators, so mobility-challenged passengers could still transfer to the subway (at Dufferin station) from buses arriving at Dundas West. This shuttle was expected to operate until early July.

In March 2014, TTC staff conducted a review of the TTC’s community bus program, partly in response to requests for additional services in the Lawrence/Orton Park area and Cederbrae Mall. Although noting that a proposal for a community bus service in Ward 43 had attracted local support, TTC staff poured cold water on the proposal, noting that ridership on the TTC’s five other community bus routes had decreased significantly since their introduction in the early 1990s. In 2002, the community bus services had carried over 100,000 passengers. In 2013, however, that number was only 57,728.

Further, staff noted that these services had become quite unreliable, since travel times had increased dramatically, with adjustments to the schedule. With no capital available for additional buses on these routes, staff proposed that frequencies be reduced; 400 LAWRENCE MANOR service would drop from 60 minutes to every 75 minutes, 402 PARKDALE would drop from 75 minutes to every 90 minutes, while 405 ETOBICOKE would drop from 74 minutes to every 90 minutes. There would be no change to 403 SOUTH DON MILLS and 404 EAST YORK service (60 minutes and 75 minutes respectively). These service changes would take place in June 2014.

Service Reviews

TTC staff speculated that the increasing accessibility of TTC service was contributing to the reduction in community bus ridership. The TTC’s bus network became 100% accessible in October 2011, and accessible streetcars started rolling on the network in August 2014. As these services were significantly more frequent, and served destinations more directly, they drained ridership from the community buses, which were unsuccessful in taking ridership from Wheel Trans service. TTC staff recommended that community bus service and Wheel Trans service be reviewed for better integration, with a report to be issued in 2015.

On September 5, 2017, the TTC experimented with expanding the 400 LAWRENCE MANOR and the 404 EAST YORK Community Bus services. 400 LAWRENCE MANOR buses were extended east of the Dufferin/Lawrence intersection, operating via Keele Street as far as the Humber River Regional Hospital. Service was expanded to every sixty minutes, from every seventy-five. The 404 EAST YORK bus was extended to serve Coxwell station at its north/west end, and extended south from Victoria Park station and Shoppers World to serve Gerrard Street, Main Street and the Beaches, including the Beaches Recreation Centre and the Beach Arms Retirement Residence. Service was also expanded to every sixty minutes from every seventy-five. To compensate, service on the 403 SOUTH DON MILLS route was reduced to every seventy-five minutes from every sixty minutes.

In spite of ridership reductions in later years, the TTC’s community bus service experiment would be taken up by other transit systems in the GTA. Ajax introduced its Flag Bus system in September 1992, followed by Richmond Hill in May 1993, Newmarket in January 1994, and Oshawa in January 1995. Others would follow, as smaller communities found the services effective in meeting the needs of mobility-challenged residents with services integrated with standard transit service.

Document Archives

400 Lawrence Manor and 404 East York Community Bus Route Extensions, July 12, 2017 (PDF - 258 Kb)

Schedules Effective December 5, 1998

400 Series Community Routes Image Archive

	The outside of the TTC's official timetable for 170 LAWRENCE MANOR operations, effective October 15, 1990.
	The inside of the TTC's official timetable of 170 LAWRENCE MANOR operations, effective October 15, 1990.
	An official map of the TTC's 400 LAWRENCE MANOR community bus service, effective April 1, 2013.
	The official map of 400 LAWRENCE MANOR operations, effective September 5, 2017.
	An official TTC map of the 402 PARKDALE community bus service, effective April 1, 2013.
	The official map of 402 PARKDALE community bus operations, effective September 5, 2017.
	An official map of the TTC's 403 SOUTH DON MILLS community bus operations, effective April 1, 2013.
	An official map of 403 SOUTH DON MILLS community bus services, effective September 5, 2017.
	An official map of the TTC's 404 EAST YORK operations, effective April 1, 2013.
	An official TTC map of 404 EAST YORK community bus operations, effective September 5, 2017.
	An official TTC map of 405 ETOBICOKE community bus operations, effective April 1, 2013.
	An official TTC map of 405 ETOBICOKE community bus operations, effective September 5, 2017.
	An official map of the TTC's short lived 406 VARIETY VILLAGE Community Link Bus, effective 2011.
	An official map of the TTC's 407 TORONTO REHAB CARDIAC CENTRE Community Link service, effective April 1, 2013.
	The official map of the TTC's 407 TORONTO REHAB community bus route, effective September 5, 2017.
	An official map of the TTC's temporary 409 ACCESSIBLE SHUTTLE DUNDAS WEST shuttle, effective March 11, 2015.
	A map of the TTC's 425 DOWNTOWN community bus during its short lived run in 2005.
	On December 16, 2011, Kevin Nicol captured this image of TTC Orion II bus #9705 operating in 400 LAWRENCE MANOR Community Bus service outside Lawrence West station.
	TTC accessible bus W101 stops to pick up passengers at Richview Square in 405 ETOBICOKE service. This shot was taken on May 2, 2013, by James Bow.
	Jelo Gutierrez Cantos captured this shot of TTC Friendly Bus W-102 at Lansdowne and Wallace in 402 PARKDALE community service, late in the afternoon of November 11, 2016.
	Jelo Gutierrez Cantos rides TTC Friendly Bus W-102 in 402 PARKDALE service, approaching Hallam, on November 25, 2016.
	TTC accessible bus W102 is seen turning off of Glendale Avenue, onto The Queensway, in 402 PARKDALE COMMUNITY BUS service. Photo taken on December 6th, 2017 by Marcus Danchuk.
	Ford-built TTC accessibility coach W-103 pulls up to the Don Mills Plaza stop in service on the 403 SOUTH DON MILLS Community Bus. This photo was taken by James Bow on April 23, 2013.
	TTC accessibility coach W-103 turns from the Donway East south onto Don Mills Road in service on the 403 SOUTH DON MILLS Community Bus. The photo was taken on April 23, 2013 by James Bow.
	Andrew Crawford captured this image of TTC Friendly Bus W103 operating on the route 405 ETOBICOKE Community Bus, on La Rose Avenue at Arcade Drive. This photo was taken on April 17, 2017.
	TTC "Friendly Bus" #W-104 heads south on Bathurst, about to turn right into the parking lot of Lawrence Plaza on May 2, 2013. The photo was taken by James Bow.
	TTC Community Bus W104 pauses outside Toronto East General Hospital in 404 EAST YORK service. This shot was taken by Marcus Danchuk on August 3, 2017.
	The inside of TTC Community Bus W104 in service on 404 EAST YORK, at the intersection of Dawes and Gower. This photograph was taken by Marcus Danchuk on August 3, 2017.
	TTC Orion VII bus #7776 looks on as wheelchair accessible bus W105 pays a visit to Victoria Park station in service on the 404 EAST YORK community route. This photo was taken by James Bow on March 12, 2013.
	Recently refurbished for the Community Bus routes, TTC accessible van #W106 picks up passengers at Barrington and Lumsden on the 404 EAST YORK COMMUNITY BUS route, heading to Queen on a extended route due to the Community Bus Pilot Project. Photo taken on December 1st, 2017 by Marcus Danchuk.
	Possibly the least frequent scheduled service on the TTC is the 407 TORONTO REHAB CARDIAC CENTRE Community Bus, shuttling between the main entrance at Sunnybrook Hospital and the Toronto Rehab Cardiac Centre (also known as the Rumsey Centre). Typically, three or four trips operate Mondays to Thursdays, but departure times vary by the day. While publicly acknowledged, the service isn't really meant for the general public. TTC Wheel Trans coach W218 pulls up to Sunnybrook Hospital on Tuesday, April 23, 2013, and James Bow was on hand to take this photo. Although unsigned, the coach had arrived on schedule for the Tuesday 9:30 a.m. departure and so is assumed to be in service on the 407 route.